“I’m writing to you from Machakos County in Kenya, where 50+ African peasant movements and allies have gathered. Besides scheming our collective liberation, we have eaten, danced and sang together. Most importantly, we are celebrating our wins, including the latest victory in Kenya. The Nairobi Court of Appeal upheld the decision to block genetically modified organisms (GMOs) imports into the country, siding with the small-holder farmer movements like the Kenya Peasants League and Biodiversity and Biosafety Association of Kenya (BIBA).
“Since the government attempted to lift the ban on GMO in 2022, food sovereignty activists have been actively challenging the decision. And Kenya is not the only country where these battles are taking place”, according to HyoJin Park of A Growing Culture (AGC), in a statement. A Growing Culture (AGC) is a non-profit organisation working to unite the food sovereignty movement. Through storytelling, AGC confronts the root causes of the perceived injustice in the food system and centres in the communities, who are seeding radical hope for a just and dignified future for all. The group stated that Mexico amended its constitution to prohibit the planting of GM corn, as well as any further technologies of genetic manipulation.
This comes at the end of a long drawn-out trade dispute between the United States and Mexico, stating that even though Mexico ultimately lost the ruling, its citizens were loud and clear in rejecting GM corn in their food supply, backed by the extremely robust scientific case that Mexico had put forward. In the Philippines, the Supreme Court vindicated MASIPAG (Farmer-Scientist Partnership for Development), a coalition of more than 50,000 farmers and scientists, by banning the commercial cultivation of Golden Rice. The group further informed that peasants and scientists fighting back against GMO because of loss of farmer sovereignty because GM crops can only deliver when used with agrochemicals like fertilizer and pesticide, and with diminishing returns, as the same inputs degrade soil health.
This development locks farmers into industrial agriculture where rising input costs, due to geopolitical conflicts and speculation, and one bad harvest can push them into debilitating debt. “Do we know if they’re really safe? Mexico’s national science agency compiled an extremely comprehensive review showing health risks associated with growing and eating the most-widely grown crop in the US, corn, the director and scientist of this agency recently did a webinar discussing the key findings. Not to mention the risks associated with accompanying agrochemicals”, the statement added. Another point is increase in consolidation for there is research showing that Golden Rice not only fails to deliver on its promises, but also further strengthens an extremely consolidated corporate seed industry at the expense of farmers. The same four multinational corporations, viz: Bayer-Monsanto, Syngenta, BASF, and DowDuPont, control 75% of plant breeding research, 60% of the commercial seed market, and 76% of global agrochemical sales.
“Who should cover this topic? Science and health journalists, who are interested in the latest research on the effects of transgenic crops and the accompanying agrichemicals, food and culture reporters, who care about loss of variety and nutrition of what we eat as well as the sovereignty of food growers. When native species are lost due to market forces, we also lose the cultural practices surrounding them”, it stated further. Others are climate desks, who care about biodiversity; the agrichemicals that inevitably come with GM crops devastate wildlife. Indigenous plants are also threatened by transgenic contamination. Trade and business looking at trade agreements for FTAs, are one of the many ways that transgenic crops are encouraged, as well as consumer rights.
Kenyan activists said that this case may far from over. “They expect the government to fight the decision. The Mexico-US decision will have ripple effects on other countries in trade agreements with the US. It’s not just a policy issue, but also about Mexico’s right to protect their heritage, culture and sovereignty. Despite their victory, rural Filipino communities fighting Golden Rice have been labeled as “anti-science” by many mainstream media coverage. These communities want their side of the story told. These stories aren’t just about a crop; it’s about who benefits from innovation, whose knowledge and expertise are valued, and who gets to decide the future of food”, the group said.
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